During the Thursday and Friday night broadcasts of his show, Fox News’ Sean Hannity not only provided a forum for a noted intolerant bigot to spew hate speech and bully a Muslim guest, but jumped on board the hate train himself and criticized and harangued the young woman. On Thursday night’s episode of Hannity, American University law student Saba Ahmed was brought on for an interview along with Brigitte Gabriel, founder of the anti-Islam group ACT! for America. The interview came about due to a verbal altercation that occurred between these two women at a Heritage Foundation panel discussion on Benghazi that took place June 16th.

Dana Milbank of the Washington Postdescribed the Benghazi panel discussion as deteriorating “into the ugly taunting of a woman in the room who wore an Islamic head covering.” Ahmed had confronted the panel about their portrayal of all Muslims as being bad and not realizing that there are 8 million Muslims living in America. Per Milbank, it quickly went downhill, with Gabriel leading the charge. Essentially, Gabriel bullied and taunted Ahmed from the stage and essentially claimed that 300 million Muslims worldwide were bloodthirsty terrorists determined to kill Americans while dismissing the idea that any Muslims can be peaceful.

Politico’s media critic, Dylan Byers, criticized Milbank for his description of the event (Milbank was there; Byers only watched a short video clip of the event) and stated that Milbank had sensationalized the entire interaction. After what we saw transpire on Hannity the past two days, I am pretty sure Milbank provided an accurate description of the Heritage Foundation event. Also, Ahmed responded to Byers in an op-ed published by the Post, as Byers said that she did not seem troubled by the conversation with Gabriel and others on the panel. She pointedly stated that Byers was wrong. At the same time, she said that she is a Republican (conservatives have labeled her a Democratic plant) due to her conservative Islamic values.

That brings us back to the two days of unadulterated hate directed at Ahmed and all Muslims that was brought to us by Sean Hannity and Brigitte Gabriel. During Thursday night’s show, the interview quickly fell apart, as Hannity and Gabriel tag-teamed to personally tear apart Ahmed. It was an extremely disgusting display of xenophobia and bigotry.

As you can see, Hannity and Gabriel bullied this woman and barely allowed her to speak. Meanwhile, they are essentially painting all Muslims as barbaric terrorists that need to be hunted down and killed. Gabriel accused Ahmed of just trying to grab the limelight at the event by asking an irrelevant question. When Ahmed tried to point out that her question was not irrelevant, she was shouted down again and again by Gabriel and Hannity. One sadly funny moment was when Hannity wanted to know why more moderate Muslims weren’t speaking out against radicals. When Ahmed tried to answer Hannity and point out that she is trying to do just that, Hannity cut her off.

On Friday, Hannity played an extended portion of the interview that wasn’t shown on Thursday. This was, if you can believe it, even worse than what was aired the night before. In this portion, Gabriel just continued to berate and bully Ahmed, continuously calling her a “liar” and a “terrorist sympathizer.” She even mocked Ahmed when Ahmed wanted to know why Gabriel was being so mean. Amazingly, Gabriel thought she was being civil and was only showing her “passion.”

This is ugly behavior at its worse, but then again, what else should we expect from Hannity. The fact that he is even giving Gabriel a forum to spew her hate speech, and endorsing it, is absolutely pathetic. Gabriel is the same person who said the following at a conference in 2007:

The difference, my friends, between Israel and the Arab world is the difference between civilization and barbarism. It’s the difference between good and evil…. this is what we’re witnessing in the Arabic world, They have no soul, they are dead set on killing and destruction. And in the name of something they call “Allah” which is very different from the God we believe….because our God is the God of love.

Brigitte Gabriel is just another charlatan who has has made an industry out of preaching hatred and intolerance. She has made an industry out of making conservatives feel good and right about their natural inclinations to hate anyone who is an ‘other.’ Especially when it comes to Muslims. It is all about whipping the far-right into a jingoistic frenzy. It is about embracing Islamophobia and alienating millions of Americans. And, in the end, it is about making the Republican Party less and less inclusive, assuring that it will kill itself rather than acknowledge how diverse this country has become.

Fox News’ Sean Hannity Lets The Hate Speech Flow And Pushes All In On Islamophobia was written by Justin Baragona for PoliticusUSA.

Justin Baragona is the Managing Editor at Politicus Sports as well as Senior Editor at PoliticusUSA. He was a political writer for 411Mania.com before joining PoliticusUSA. Politically, Justin considers himself a liberal but also a realist and pragmatist. Currently, Justin lives in St. Louis, MO and is married. Besides writing, he also runs his own business after spending a number of years in the corporate world. You can follow Justin on Twitter either with his personal handle (@justinbaragona) or the Sports site's (@PoliticusSports).

30 Responses to Fox News’ Sean Hannity Lets The Hate Speech Flow And Pushes All In On Islamophobia

Reynardine

Sat, Jun 21st, 2014 at 2:18 pm

I can understand why Ms. Ahmed walked into it once. Why she did so twice is a bit mystifying.

Paws

Sat, Jun 21st, 2014 at 2:49 pm

Maybe to prove she’s not afraid of a couple of mental midgets.

Huckleberry

Sat, Jun 21st, 2014 at 2:20 pm

There isn’t even words to describe such actions. Hannity and Gabriel need to be taken out with the trash.

Paws

Sat, Jun 21st, 2014 at 2:48 pm

Maybe someone needs to remind Hannity of all the killing, violence and destruction that has been done in this world in the name of a Christian God.

This notion that Muslims are bad simply by virtue of the fact that they are Muslims needs to end. The majority of Muslims are peace-loving people who simply want to lead their lives like anyone else.

Paraphrasing what I told someone yesterday, judge them not all equally.

StopHyperbole

Sun, Jun 22nd, 2014 at 12:11 pm

How does the saying go? “Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!!” …

Huckleberry

Sat, Jun 21st, 2014 at 3:19 pm

These people are to stupid to realize when you say something today it goes around the world in seconds. Then they sit and wonder why this country is hated and despised by so many.

Derrick Weiller

Sat, Jun 21st, 2014 at 4:19 pm

I am ashamed to admit it, but I can’t deny it. I Don’t want any Muslims near me… None… None North or West of the Mediterranean. Keep them confined to their original tribal lands and let none migrate out. Hate! It is all they know. I now return the courtesy.

Reynardine

Sat, Jun 21st, 2014 at 4:38 pm

I was married to two of them, though not at the same time. They avoided pork, wine, and indecency, studied hard, and were good, if incandescent, cooks. They were in no way violent or terroristic, and truthfully, my alliances with non-Muslims held up no better.

Fate

Sat, Jun 21st, 2014 at 4:38 pm

Derrick learn to better articulate. I am a liberal who has struggled much with the issue of fundamentalist Islam. Let me give you a real good lead that will help you to better articulate and not be torn in an inner conflict. It is a big step to clear the fog of political correctness. The fact is political correct jargon like the crap that is this article is just as toxic as hate speech.This is a progressive Muslim who can help you to support progressive Islam & fight fundamentalist dogma while leaving political correct garbage like this article in your dust. Liberals liberate! There is a problem and if you want to get the brass tacks then you can start here. Also look into Thomas Paine. This article is for illiberalists who would’ve allowed the Nazi’s to do their worst. Be a true liberal and liberate! http://www.quilliamfoundation.org/about/staff/maajid-nawaz/

djchefron

Sat, Jun 21st, 2014 at 5:12 pm

I am ashamed to admit it, but I can’t deny it. I Don’t want any Christians near me… None…

I struggle with my opinions of Muslims too. I don’t like myself for it but I equate them with violence & misogyny.I worked in retail in an area with many Muslin young couples. For the most part they were unfriendly. And the men seemed to hover over their wives like they were incapable of shopping on their own. There’s plenty of every kind of idiots, warmongers & jerks I know.But my brain kept telling me they were “different”. I need to work on it but their actions don’t help.

as promised

Sun, Jun 22nd, 2014 at 3:49 am

Maybe it depends on the sect, but I have had a number of friends or coworkers who were Muslim… and a few that I wouldn’t have even known they belonged to ANY church or religion. One guy, it was quite funny, but the only reason we even knew was when it was HIS turn to get the group lotto tickets and he had to decline.

I appreciate your acknowledgement and effort. By the way, do not confuse culture and religious belief, they are not the same.

gsb

Sun, Jun 22nd, 2014 at 12:06 pm

something about your post puzzles me. No one knew he was a Muslim until it was his turn to buy lotto tickets . Soooo it is fine for him to take part in any win, but to buy the ticket is wrong? This smells….

Fate

Sat, Jun 21st, 2014 at 4:23 pm

I strongly disagree. I think strong debate is what the west is all about. Here is another example of a debate where everyone agreed to participate. Strong debate is what the west is all about. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CGFMwtJTyE

djchefron

Sat, Jun 21st, 2014 at 4:27 pm

But that wasn’t a debate unless bullying a POV is not a debate which faux does regulary

Tani

Sat, Jun 21st, 2014 at 4:24 pm

While these racist a@#-holes peddle hate. This is what happen in the real world:

This is typical faux intolerance, to beat up anyone who doesn’t believe in what they believe in. But of course their right wing audience eats this shit up.

Wendy

Sat, Jun 21st, 2014 at 5:57 pm

IT IS TRUE that women are grossly mistreated in Islam as they are in every religion created by men (not even mentioning what happens to people who believe in other religions or are atheist,gay etc,).
Saba Ahmed seems to be very uncomfortable hearing this happens under the umbrella of her religion just as Catholics hate to hear about the criminal acts perpetrated against children by their priests and the crazy crap Israel does to perpetuate the animosity between their people and the Palestinians.
All religions have been a blight on humanity and to modern progress over all.

clennis05

Sat, Jun 21st, 2014 at 7:25 pm

Yeah Fate but, this debate was one sided.

Gary Vaughn

Sat, Jun 21st, 2014 at 10:16 pm

Derrick is one of those Foxbots that have listened to them so much that he thinks Muslim, much like Liberal is a curse word. Fox never tells poor idiots like Derrick that there are over 8 different Sharia teachings, and way more of different kinds of Muslims. Muslims, just like Christians have their dofferent sects. To say that some think their understanding of the Quran is better than the other, therefore, sectarian violence. Exactly like the Protestants (Gentiles) here. If we ever became a Christian only nation, you would see the same sectarian crap here that goes on there. Because the Lutherans would want top billing, so would the Mormons, Calvinists, Orthodox, Baptist and on and on. It would be total Jihad here 24/7/365. Just say no to Christianity. I mean for policies and such.

Gradie

Sat, Jun 21st, 2014 at 10:46 pm

Dam Fool

Gina

Sun, Jun 22nd, 2014 at 12:01 am

My stepson was high up in the Navy chain of command before returning to civilian life. He’s been to all the Middle Eastern countries torn apart by war over land disputes & religion. He told my husband something in private once. He never discussed his assignments at sea.
They captured & interrogated Islamic men of Muslim faith. He said they have one main mission in life. To kill American “infidels” who disagree with or “insult” their interpretation of the Quran. Muslims call it “the revelation of God” He said they quoted 100’s of verses of the Quran that call Muslims to go to war with nonbelievers. They are willing to die for the sake of “Islamic rule”.
He now has no use for any Muslim be it man, woman, child. It’s wrong to judge them all, but it’s still how he sees it.

Maple

Sun, Jun 22nd, 2014 at 11:40 am

Let’s examine what you’ve just said. Your stepson captured Islamists. They were probably extremists, right? Maybe along the lines of the white supremacists in the U.S. who hate the government and hate anyone not like them.

Thankfully, not all Americans are white supremacists.

Then there are those Christian fundamentalists who are pretty extreme in their beliefs too, and have no use for anyone who doesn’t follow their brand of religion. And who think it’s perfectly alright (as I read recently) to stone gay people to death.

Get my point?

Your stepson was making wild generalizations based on fairly limited knowledge and experience of the Muslim faith. Dealing with the extremists of any religion makes for dubious conclusions about that religion.

michael brown

Sun, Jun 22nd, 2014 at 3:26 am

this is so stupid, and typical of fox, hannity stands up against this ladies religion because of the mistreatment of women, and he does so, BY ATTACKING THIS WOMAN

Anne B.

Sun, Jun 22nd, 2014 at 8:09 am

These are a danger to society and must be banned from all media.

djchefron

Sun, Jun 22nd, 2014 at 10:17 am

Murdoch’s minions: Jason and Naomi Schaefer-Riley

With Rupert Murdoch at the helm of the Wall Street Journal, the paper has become little more than a Fox News rag of right-wing spews or a New York Post in staid typeface. Par for the conservative course, racism is always de rigueur and standard operating procedure for right-wing media is to find a black or brown face, or someone with an Hispanic surname, to mouth attacks on communities of color and public policies that advance equality. This is somehow a shield to protect the institution from charges of racism.http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/06/22/1308039/-Murdoch-s-minions-Jason-and-Naomi-Schaefer-Riley?showAll=yes

philip coleman

Sun, Jun 22nd, 2014 at 10:57 am

I Can’t respond for I become ill watching anything Hannity” Or Faux Babble!

StavoV

Sun, Jun 22nd, 2014 at 12:43 pm

Even on this side of the fence, there is a strong distrust of muslims.

Not to mention, that every follower of Islam, that I have had the opportune to meet, is just as big a hypocrite as the so called Christian….albeit the muslim is usually a little more on the literate side.

Both sides can make a shopping list of hatred against each other, with no happy medium. So I fear, unless someone, gets their act together and not just some superficial words, can manage for both sides to find a common thread, at least something is better than nothing.

Those that complain about Christianity a thousand years ago, exactly what is your point? I mean really?

Me, when I see a muslim, with way to many clothes on, when it is 90 degrees out, well I make a strong U-turn and pray on my way back to where I just came from. The further the better…being blown up is no fun, I know first hand.